The process of selling jewelry, including finger rings, often is a time-demanding and labor intensive process. Typically, a major retailer of jewelry employs a number of salespersons who meet with potential customers, displaying jewelry items and communicating information concerning the jewelry items to the potential customer for the purposes of making a sale.
It is important for the seller of jewelry to be able to readily, easily and accurately communicate to the potential customer information concerning the jewelry for sale. This is especially important where the seller of jewelry is selling special order items, which are jewelry items specifically manufactured for a particular customer. For special order items, for example for a ring, a customer may select a particular style, size, stone(s) and sequence of stones. Special order items are more difficult sales than non-special order items, because they are complicated by the number of options available to the customer and the possibility that the seller may make a mistake in communicating erroneous information concerning the jewelry, such as, quoting an erroneous price, or an unavailable stone.
Commonly, the seller of jewelry needs to display the jewelry item to the customer, identify the jewelry, and provide pricing, styling or other relevant information to the potential customer in order to sell the jewelry. Usually, the seller of jewelry has a limited time period available to make his or her sale's pitch. Typically, the jewelry salesperson is positioned behind a sales showcase, which contains the jewelry items which are to be shown to customers, and has separate printed materials, such as price lists, information booklets describing the jewelry or catalogues, which the salesperson consults during the sales negotiations. Often, it has been difficult for a salesperson to display the jewelry to a potential customer and to expeditiously, conveniently and correctly provide the pricing, styling, or other relevant information required by the potential customer to determine if he or she will buy the jewelry. Frequently, the salesperson has to sort through various materials to locate the printed information which corresponds to the jewelry piece which the salesperson is attempting to sell, often resulting in a delay and sometimes resulting in providing erroneous information, which may interfere with the salesperson's ability to complete the sale.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a tray displaying jewelry having a means for correctly providing information identifying or otherwise relating to the jewelry items displayed and providing for easy and rapid access to information relating to the jewelry. There is also a need in the art for a tray displaying jewelry having a means for assisting the salesperson in returning rings removed from a jewelry tray to their respective original positions in the jewelry tray.
An object of the present invention is to provide a tray for displaying jewelry items having slots for holding jewelry items and having a means to provide for easy and rapid access to information relating to the jewelry.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a tray for displaying jewelry with a means for displaying a picture of the jewelry near to the jewelry item displayed to facilitate returning the ring to the proper holding slot for the ring.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a tray for displaying jewelry with a pocket for holding a card or booklet having information relating to the jewelry displayed to facilitate providing accurate information relating to the jewelry.
Other objects, advantages and features of this invention become more apparent hereinafter.